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I know many of OSers have to watch the pennies and budget carefully. I'm usually restrained in shops as I don't need more stuff to ...unless it's the chazzer.

At which point all bets are off! I still look at the price of individual items and assess whether they are worth it to me, but I don't watch my overall expenditure as I consider it charity rather than retail therapy. Is it just me?

Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!

"No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio

Hope is not a strategy...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...If in doubt, don't pull out...I love chaz-ing!

Blackpool has some good chazzas, there's still a couple that get 'new' stuff direct from the shops (after sales etc). I love going to see what they have, got a lot of my daughter's clothes (and mine) from the chazzas there

CC2 = £9638.39 (£10000 )CC1 = £0 (£9983 ); Reusing shopping bags savings =£3.00 vs spent £0.75 .Wine is like opera. You can enjoy it even if you don't understand it and too much can give you a headache the next day J

I have developed a new rule this year - one in, one out. I am only allowed to buy something if I am prepared to get rid of something in the same category. So, for example, a tee shirt in blue developed a hole right in the middle of the front where it was impossible to mend without it showing (due to the nature of the material and a patch would have just looked silly there!) So next round of pottering with a friend round charity shops I kept my eye out for a blue tee shirt. Having found one the holey one went to the rag box. Since most of my ornaments are presents from friends or memories of places past I wont be buying any of them; I have enough crockery so I wont be buying that; I wont be buying books cos I have a stack of some 20 odd that I am finishing and then donating to my local chazzer...... I live a very contented life with enough stuff - one in one out! I dont need more! Now if only I could apply that to the pounds of fat around my waist :-)

Aim for Sept 17: 20/30 days to be NSDs NSDs July 23/31 (aim 22)
NSDs 2015:185/330 (allowing for hols etc)
LBM: started Jan 2012 - still learning!Life gives us only lessons and gifts - learn the lesson and it becomes a gift.' from the Bohdavista

Budget for charity shops? Nah. I go in the cheap ones and splurge to my heart's content and come away with a bag full and change from a tenner. Really, I'm trying to bring less stuff into the house so that is what I set as a limit.

So even if it's only £1 I do think hard about whether I really want it.

I was looking at Galileo thermometers in our local hospice shop yesterday.
They had 2, 1 was £4 and the other was £3 but I decided I want a taller one with more 'balls' in.
I think the OH would like it on his desk in the study and it would make a good surprise Christmas present.

I've seen one on Amazon - 44cms tall with what looks like 10 'balls'. It's £20.47 & £4 postage so not that expensive really if I don't find one in a charity shop in the next 6 or 7 months.

I was looking at Galileo thermometers in our local hospice shop yesterday.
They had 2, 1 was £4 and the other was £3 but I decided I want a taller one with more 'balls' in.
I think the OH would like it on his desk in the study and it would make a good surprise Christmas present.

I've seen one on Amazon - 44cms tall with what looks like 10 'balls'. It's £20.47 & £4 postage so not that expensive really if I don't find one in a charity shop in the next 6 or 7 months.

My ex-neighbour was a marketing manager. She informed me that the SAME clothing left the factories bearing labels of VARIOUS shops to be sold to the public at a wide range of prices from cheap to expensive.

I generally go first to the animal charity shops, as that's my preferred cause; there are two near us, in different small towns, for the same charity, and I always go to the one where they don't look down the side of their nose at me, whether looking to buy or donating.

LameWolf If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.

I have developed a new rule this year - one in, one out. I am only allowed to buy something if I am prepared to get rid of something in the same category. So, for example, a tee shirt in blue developed a hole right in the middle of the front where it was impossible to mend without it showing (due to the nature of the material and a patch would have just looked silly there!) So next round of pottering with a friend round charity shops I kept my eye out for a blue tee shirt. Having found one the holey one went to the rag box. Since most of my ornaments are presents from friends or memories of places past I wont be buying any of them; I have enough crockery so I wont be buying that; I wont be buying books cos I have a stack of some 20 odd that I am finishing and then donating to my local chazzer...... I live a very contented life with enough stuff - one in one out! I dont need more! Now if only I could apply that to the pounds of fat around my waist :-)

That makes sense but he wouldn't want 2 on his desk and if it's for a gift and I know he would really appreciate it, I don't think short of £25 is too bad.
I saw a tall one in a local jewellers the same day as I saw the ones in the Hospice shop and it did look impressive. I think that's what made me glad that I hadn't bought either of the 2.

Re - Galileo thermometers. I've previously bought my teenage son and nephew one as a stocking filler. I got them in B & M. As they've now broken unsure how many balls were in them, but I think I'll have paid under £10. I'd be tempted to check there if you have one first if the charity shop doesn't come up with one, to see if it's what you're looking for before spending just under £25 on one, which to me also seems expensive. B & M tend to get them in with their christmas stock, so around September-ish time. I wouldn't want to have 2 taking up desk space either,

There's a charity shop in my town centre that sorts by colour too. I find it handy because most of the time the clothing is for a costume for my DD's drama productions, so I know what colour I'm looking for. I can't for the life of me remember which charity. I tend to mostly know where the chazzas are but not which charity they support. I didn't know Oxfam also sorted by colour but I was pretty sure the one in my town shut down some time ago, a google tells me it's moved to a village on the outskirts, not far from where I work, and it's in an affluent area so once I go back to my usual finish time I'm going to call in.

My Age concern CS is situated in a old building that has an attic and that's where the £1 clothes are.

Sue Ryder has almost every item for £2. There's the odd exception for certain items, I think bags and footwear, but most clothing is £2.

BHF has the collectable book shelves and where I'm picking up the classic books again for DD and some I read as a child too. Though with no price tag on it, I picked up Jo's boys the other week, expecting it to cost £1 or so, like Little Women had a few weeks earlier, and thought the £3 cost was on the pricery side. I haven't looked but I thought I might have been able to get it cheaper on ebay/amazon. Lesson learned, next time I ask the price.

Re - Galileo thermometers. I've previously bought my teenage son and nephew one as a stocking filler. I got them in B & M. As they've now broken unsure how many balls were in them, but I think I'll have paid under £10. I'd be tempted to check there if you have one first if the charity shop doesn't come up with one, to see if it's what you're looking for before spending just under £25 on one, which to me also seems expensive. B & M tend to get them in with their christmas stock, so around September-ish time. I wouldn't want to have 2 taking up desk space either,

I'm talking about a gift for Christmas for someone who has a wardrobe full of coats, jackets, shirts, trousers and shoes and buys computer hardware upgrades (his hobby) whenever he likes.
I'm talking about buying something for someone that I know would appreciate it.

We are not short of money.

The one I've seen is 18" high, the ones in the charity shop were probably 10" high.

I will look in B&M and probably Home Bargains (so thanks for the suggestion) but if I'm buying one at all, I want to buy quality.
I'm not prepared to buy something cheap for the sake of buying it.
If that's what I wanted I'd have bought the one for £3.

They did it in a shop I don't go in any more!!
I went there twice - once when I first moved in with Mr LW and had a load of stuff from my "former" life to get rid of - including my wedding dress; they were quite snooty, but I let it pass.
I went in a second time a few months later just for a nosey, and they were snooty then, too - and I left without purchasing anything.

So now I only visit the branch in the other town. Same charity, different attitude - in fact this second lot were thrilled when Mr LW and I donated a surplus-to-requirements dinner set, and later very excitedly told me they'd made a very decent amount selling it to a lady who wanted a lot of spare china as she held dinner parties regularly.

LameWolf If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.

I'm talking about a gift for Christmas for someone who has a wardrobe full of coats, jackets, shirts, trousers and shoes and buys computer hardware upgrades (his hobby) whenever he likes.
I'm talking about buying something for someone that I know would appreciate it.

We are not short of money.

The one I've seen is 18" high, the ones in the charity shop were probably 10" high.

I will look in B&M and probably Home Bargains (so thanks for the suggestion) but if I'm buying one at all, I want to buy quality.
I'm not prepared to buy something cheap for the sake of buying it.
If that's what I wanted I'd have bought the one for £3.

I totally understand what you're saying but for me I have a total cost in my head of a max price I'm prepared to pay for any item, regardless of whether I have plenty of money. The thermometer to me is a stocking filler type present and 'not worth' around £25. It's not something I'd associate with quality either. They sit there with balls going up and down and are pretty to look at if that's what you like and if you knock them off they break, but I hope you find one you like.

I went to the CS this morning. First I hit the shop with the classic book section and I found the book that DD's new speech teacher has said she needs. However because she needed it several lessons ago, we already bought it from ebay and for cheaper, but I got this copy too as an emergency back up. It showed me how if you are after something specific you've got to allow enough time for it to appear.

DD was with me. I posted either on here or the other thread that last week she moaned like mad about being in a chazza till she saw a Jack Wills mug, this week she looked through the non clothing items and also the clothing rails in hope of a designer brand. None were found, but I thought she'd got over her aversion to charity shops. Not so. I wanted a long skirt for her for her next drama production of Les Mis and that shop didn't have anything, so along to the Sue Ryder place. They did have something suitable for DD. However she reverted back to moaning, this time that the shop smelt and was I sure no-one had died in the skirt. For all her moaning she still wandered into the non clothing area and came back with a 'designer pencil case' a pineapple brand one.

The drama school has sent out the costume list this morning, some things they mention hiring, some buying. I am pleased with the £2 skirt and intend adding bits we already have in, for the characters she is and seeing how low a budget I can stick to for this production.

I'm talking about a gift for Christmas for someone who has a wardrobe full of coats, jackets, shirts, trousers and shoes and buys computer hardware upgrades (his hobby) whenever he likes.
I'm talking about buying something for someone that I know would appreciate it.

We are not short of money.

The one I've seen is 18" high, the ones in the charity shop were probably 10" high.

I will look in B&M and probably Home Bargains (so thanks for the suggestion) but if I'm buying one at all, I want to buy quality.
I'm not prepared to buy something cheap for the sake of buying it.
If that's what I wanted I'd have bought the one for £3.

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